bale31

There may be some good reasons for taking ASU in, but assuming that Denver (a town that's 820 miles away) is going to cause an attendance bump can't be a legitimate argument. TV-maybe Name recognition- probably Large school with money- absolUtley More Pac12 schols- possible but unlikely Attendance bump for Denver- Not a chance

Not really, but certainly not since hastings has taken over.

I've always found that sentiment strangely self serving. Why should kato not have the same goal as everyone else? Why should kato take a step back and "stabalize the WCHA"? No one, including UND, gave a damn about stabilizing anything when they had their respective chances. Why should kato have that expectation now? This would be a positive move for MSU. it would decrease expenses and increase revenues. Apathy is starting to set in I'm Mankato due to not playing anyone that fans care about. Our program is and will continue to suffer if a change isn't made.

what did mike hastings do?

As a wcha fan, I can legitimately say that i can't see a way that Miami and WMU join with the other schools. this is a new era in college hockey where larger schools are separating themselves from smaller schools (or richer schools from "poorer" schools). For Miami and WMU to leave the nchc probably isn't realistic. Once the B10 started, it changed the game. The larger schools that helped keep smaller schools afloat are gone now. The combo of MN and UND (and und is a special case because it's a lower profile school that is hockey crazy and supports their program like a power 5 school) made the wcha work along with the small schools. Having mi and msu in the ccha along with Notre Dame and a bunch of smaller local schools worked. The bus conference concept works in the east because schools are so close and they can do 1 day trips. it wouldn't work in mi/oh becase you still have 2 day trips that require hotel stays and many other logistical issues. today its all about maximizing revenues. truth be told, I'd love for kato to be the nchc, but it's highly unlikely to happen soon. College hockey has taken a step back for us. we don't have any rivals anymore. I don't know anyone from a single other school in our conference other than bemidji (and I only know one there). I know people from 5 of the 8 schools the nchc. I can actually talk about hockey with them. now none of them care about my team and I don't care about theirs. the problem is, it doesn't look to happen any time soon. I don't want ASU to join the wcha because its just another long road trip with people I don't know with a school that only wants to use us as a stepping stone.

Uh...kato was brought up by someone else. I just explained why that didn't make sense. Seems like a logical jump to me.

I only say that because the b10 is all about the money and st Thomas is all about the money. St Thomas endowment is approximately $500+ million while msu's is $50 million. Agin, I love msu, but our strengths are in educating everyone at a reasonable expense. That's not st thomas. Thats not the u of m. The same can be said of our hockey program. We are work in progress. We aren't a blue blood. We find diamonds in the rough and develop them into something more. That's not the b10.

Correct....I was actually thinking of the original claim that the budgets were nearly the same. It appeared to me that the overall budget was the original claim and then hockey budgets after that. In any case und's budiets dwarf kato. Msu has an average attendance of 4000 and und averages 11500. Msu's tickets are $17 and und, I'm assuming, are close to double that. Mankato has less history and in turn less donors. I don't know the actual numbers, but I would be surprised if kato's budget was even half of und's in terms of hockey. I love msu hockey as much as anyone, but there is a better chance of St Thomas getting asked to be part of the big ten than msu. We would add nothing that to the big ten that they don't already have other than a short trip for the gophers. That goes for scsu, Duluth bemidji,uno and anyone else that isn't part of the power 5 conferences too.

Overall budgets aren't close to the same. Msu budget- $216 million for 15,426 students UND budget- $535 million for 14,951 It is an imperfect comparison as und has more research, a law school, etc and msu has some doctorate programs. Just not as many.

Youch.....this looks like it could get ugly in alaska. http://www.newsminer.com/news/local_news/ua-president-proposes-major-restructure-of-system/article_56df9616-18ae-11e6-9244-9b2bc61d345f.html

So let me get this straight.....it would be prudent for the wcha to add 2 more schools that virtually all of the other schools would need to fly to. And not only add those flights but those schol are also small schools with small budgets that are extremely unstable? Yeah, that does sound like a good, prudent, fiscally responsible idea.

This was a one year thing I'd the league puts an end to it now. But it needs to be a one year thing.

I don't know how many remember when I asked about the "defensive style" of the WCHA was a conference thing or a natonal thing. My complaint all year was the ridiculous amount of clutching and grabbi ng that was being allowed. Well, the rooster is coming home to roost, so to speak. Current players are leaving and unknown amounts of recruits are just not coming. http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/sports/hockey/4018907-fairbanks-transfer-krieger-seeks-fresh-start-umd#.VyDc35LuT9V.link The WCHA better get their crap together or risk facing more of this.

Totally disagree with #3. I understand why this comes to mind with guys laying on the ice trying to get a penalty, but it doesn't mean it's not a major though. If a guy gets checked from behind, it doesn't matter how long they are hurt for. What matters is the action that drew the penalty. It's the same thing as people that want guys suspended for as long as someone got hurt. You can't call a penalty or suspend someone based upon the good or bad fortune of the guy that take the brunt of the penalty. The unintended consequences are not worth it in my opinion.

The next two years are the ones I'm excited about for msu. We're losing a decent amount from our seniors this year, but it's not insurmountable. This year's juniors are solid and the sophomores have the potential to be really good. Our recruiting class looks really, really good. We've got 3 of the top 10 scorers in the ushl coming in including last year's minnesota Mr hockey. It's funny because we tied for the MacNaughton cup (which we should have won outright if not for some stupid lazy plays in the uah series) and there is a collective yawn in Mankato because it doesn't feel like it's been a good season. I know that's more than anyone here wanted to know about mankato. Thanks for humoring me.

Boo. Why you gotta be like that?

They are. The #1 seed has always ended up being protected....although last year it would have been nice if my favorite squad wasnt. Maybe we wouldn't have laid an egg like we did against RIT.

Sure, when fan bases are unlimited that's true. It's not realistic for many schools. St cloud has been hovering around 4500 avg attendance for the last 4 years...that's great years and not so good years. Before that it seems like something funky was going on since they averaged 115% of capcity. Miami has gone from 3000 down to 2500. In the grand scheme of things, 500 tix isn't that big of a deal. Think about it this way, if you're talking 500 tix difference at $20 per that's $10000 per game. Now, look at Miami travel costs now versus a regional conference. It costs a lot of cash to fly that many people. Compare that with bussing kids (and potentially eliminating a night in a hotel). At worst it's a wash. Add to that, kids can stay in classes more. Fans are happy they can go to more away games. And administrators can claim they are doing everything they can. Look, again, I'm not saying anything will happen. I'm just saying that it used to be more of a direct correlation of winning and making money. In today's world it's all about controlling expenses and not about what happens on the ice when making essential decisions like conferences.

Who knows...but it would not surprise me to see regionally based conferences. It all about holding expenses down.

I think that's a short-sighted way to look at it. Frankly, it's not about on ice success. It's about money. Once the conferences changed, it became all about the money. It's no different than basketball or football in that respect any longer.

I'm not saying it's going to happen, but when there is continued rumors about the same school, you just never know. There are also rumors about wcha schools, I'm not sure those are entirely true. What is undeniable, though, is that the finances of schools are getting worse. That can't and won't just be ignored for long. At that point, it's not an emotional decision as people seem to want to make it. It's a necessary change, just like scsu's was.

Right, the wcha wouldn't sign it. That's why I'm not sure it would happen. Bill Robertson has been pretty vocal about it and the b10 has talked about it. The nchc has denied any talks about it at all. There are a couple of things that could turn things on their head though. I don't think the announcement from scsu is going to be the last one. Universities all over the place are running a shortfall. Maybe that will jar schools enough to realize they can't keep doing what they are right now. The other is another round of realignments. I'm still not sure this is all done. There are a lot of rumors of dissatisfaction all over the place and they seem to revolve around the same schools. If that happens, who knows where this all ends up.

I really think that if there is a combined tourney it will either be B10/WCHA or NCHC/WCHA. There are a couple of reasons for this... 1. The collective egos of the B10 and NCHC will make it very difficult for them to agree. Splitting revenues in that scenario would be a nightmare and seems like it would cause an impasse. There is something g to be said for having a good business relationship with those that you partner with. My guess is that as tone deaf as the b10 seems with their recent comments, they would demand the sun, earth and moon and ignore the fact that they've consistently been out drawn by the nchc and even the wcha last year (admittedly im comparing 2 different locations in 2015). 2. The attendance numbers seem like they fit better to plug in the wcha with either one (and frankly I think nchc and wcha fit nearly perfectly). Last year, the nchc averaged 11,563 and wcha averaged 7,524, or 19,087 total. The b10 the last time it was at the X averaged 8,522, if you combine that with the nchc that's 20,085. That's 1500 over capacity. I very well may be wrong and am seeing this with a wcha slant, but that seems like better business to me.

Pretty sure you're still missing my point. I don't even necessarily think the legislature is wrong about making cuts to the university system. Let me put it like this. Say the hockey program used to generate $1000 and their expenses were $800. Now the conferences change and their program now generates $800 and the expenses go up to $1000. Now the funding goes down and there is less money to go around AND the program is losing money. There is no way to make up for it. In favt, the program is losing money rather than breaking even or making money. Again, I'm not saying the conferences changing caused anything, but it did centralize the money. It created bigger winners and made losers. It's just an unintended consequence of re-aligning. Everyone was convinced it would create expansion, but we're forgetting that there was a large possibility that it made margins so thin that any shift in economic conditions could force.someone off that cliff. We'll see if that's what happens or not, but it's more of a possibility than anyone wants to admit.